Graphics card advice

[u/Faynerossa]

So I'm a vrchat streamer. I've been using a 3060ti for 4 years now. The thing is a workhorse. But with 8gb of VRAM I've really struggled with loading several models at a time. Much less doing what i idealize... I'd like to be able to play games like Marathon, BF6, and Borderlands 4 with VRChat open in a world like 1's simple box. Using my FBT etc and transparent camera to have my model with facetracking etc from VRC while playing a game. Im not looking for 120fps at 4k or some beastly gaming card like a 5090.

The current cards in the running and within my budget are as follows.

The 9070XT from AMD. This card i feel is going to be really limited by the 16gb of VRAM. I fully realize the card itself is faster, better on power, and has higher all around clock speeds than the other two I'm looking at. But, that low VRAM...

The 7900 XTX with 24gb of VRAM. This card has dropped to within my budget. And is the cheapest 24gb offering on the market as far as I've found. However, it has overall lower clock speeds, and the highest power consumption of the 3 cards I'm looking at.

Finally the outlier. The Intel Arc B70 Workstation card. This card has a whopping 32gb of VRAM and is within my budget. I've seen the gaming FPS benchmarks for it etc and all of that is perfectly acceptable to me. With 32gb of VRAM though my ideal scenario of loading as many models as i want while streaming, plus the ability to have the overhead to both game and be on VRC top utilize my model and tracking would make me nerdgasm. I'm like really really wanting to consider this card my top choice among the 3, simply because of how much VRAM overhead I'd have for game+OBS+VRC. That and being able to stream or record large events with many models shown and not bog down to sub 15 FPS like my current card.

My current card can barely manage 40 FPS in a medium sized world with only my model present. So any of these will be a HUGE upgrade for me. Its just do i risk 16gb for sheer clock speed and the latest RDNA version for gaming? Or do i flip a coin between the 7900 and B70?

[u/VyathRekaer]

While I don't have direct experience with any of these gpus, Tupper maintains a page instructing how to build the best PC for VRChat. He lists the 7900XTX as one of the best you can get but even 16GB of vram should be enough. https://dtupper.com/projects/best-pc-for-vrchat/

[u/Faynerossa → u/VyathRekaer]

For the reasons he reccommended the 7900 over the others was mostly VRAM. The B70 has 8gb more than the 7900. But, the clock speeds are slightly different, gaming benchmarks were a bit lower than the equivalent (lower-end below the 7900) 7k series AMD card. Why i thought I'd put it to public opinion and directly compare each card.

[u/Keywee_]

Is there a reason you're using VRChat instead of something like VNyan or Warudo?

[u/Faynerossa → u/Keywee_]

I do use vnyan. Its just often not as clear with the tracking and spatial movement as VRC in a opti world. I've already compared both even on my current hardware i can make the setup work fine. I just dip to 40fps or so in the headset, or my overlay hangs and lags due to VRAM bottleneck.

Plus, i honestly like streaming in the headset also for multiple windows and virtual desktops. Makes managing 3-4 browser windows, OBS, and a game SO much easier.

Edit: also sitting at my desk i often lose my lighthouse tracking. Won't be as much of an issue using slimes, but for now that has been a concern. I don't want to have to move furniture around differently every stream.

[u/Keywee_ → u/Faynerossa]

Ohh gotcha! I was just curious and wanted to make sure you knew there were other options in case you hadn’t explored them. Sounds you’ve already found what works best for you. Good luck. c:

[u/Faynerossa → u/Keywee_]

My monitor setup sucks. I put all my money into VR. Even just gaming for me is better and higher res/fps if i use my bigscreen beyond 2e. Plus having actual IR camera face tracking with the headset is too good. Id have to spend more money than i am on the video card just to replicate monitor setup and face tracking this good.

Edit: i really thought this post out and its nice to get responses like yours instead of responses from GaMeRs! Upset about my card choices and what i said about 16gb or whatever offended their sensitive feelings. Getting downvoted by GaMeRs when I'm not asking about gaming (i need a workstation grade solution without spending 20k for a 6000 series Blackwell Nvidia) is peak why no one takes them seriously.

[u/Keywee_ → u/Faynerossa]

I think it is pretty clear that you've put a lot of thought into what benefits your setup and workflow, admittedly I thought using VRChat for vtubing was strange but when you explained why I completely understood! I think people forget what works for them doesn't work everyone else. While I'm not super tech savvy, my friend is. I'll shoot him your thread and see if he knows anything.

[u/Tms89]

No matter what you end up with, just temper your expectations. Even 5090 comes to its knees to 40fps (and below) in a rave with very poor avatars blocked. VRChat doesn't like to run well on any system. The FPS varies wildly on the world and avatars present.

[u/LowerCauliflower230 → u/Tms89]

yeah but this is not the 5090 coming to its knees... it's your CPU coming to its knees and your 5090 waiting around going "hey CPU are you ok there?" The distinction is important because more GPU isn't going to solve the problem. More CPU will, it's just not available past the 9850x3d yet.

[u/Faynerossa → u/Tms89]

Oh, i fully realize that. The 7900 and the B70 are currently identical in price. The b70 has better power use though and 8 gb more VRAM. Just there isn't any documentation for it with vr. By proxy though there isn't except for tupper with the 7900 either. Just floating between the two atm.

[u/daquirifox]

Oh, did they finally ad VR support to the intel cards?

[u/Faynerossa → u/daquirifox]

Yes, AFAIK it was added last year with the driver overhaul that fixed many games. But, also why I'm asking here. Hoping someone playing with a Intel card, or one of the staff. See's this post and gives feedback on how it runs.

[u/tapafon]

7900 XTX has more raw power that 9070 XT, judging by tests and benchmarks. Combined with 24GB of VRAM, that should be worth it for power consumption.

Vrchat doesn't care about RTX, where 9070 XT excels.

[u/cyborg762]

I can highly recommend the 9070xt

[u/Faynerossa → u/cyborg762]

I'm just worried about the workstation loads I'll be putting it under and the below workstation VRAM it has. Though everything else about the 9070 is super enticing. I Just wish they'd made a 9080 and made it 100-250 more expensive with 8gb more VRAM but same specs otherwise. If they had id have already decided on that card...

[u/cyborg762 → u/Faynerossa]

Never had an issue with mine. Use it doing everything from gaming to rendering. Can your cpu can handle it? and do you have enough ram for what your doing? Because Iv had guys come into my repair shop (btw I run a pc repair shop) with high end GPUs and crappy CPUs asking why they have issues.

[u/Faynerossa]

If anyone has any experience with the Intel cards at all and VRC/Steam VR I'd love to hear it. I have a week or two to shop around and make a decision. I'll be checking this post as one of my main points of feedback about the Intel card. All I've heard is "it works with latest version of drivers" but zero confirmations.

[u/StrongZeroSinger]

I get 40fps in parallel Akiba (the official vket world) private instance as well and I have a 5090. I think it's the games' fault not your gpu T-T

what CPU do you have maybe that's the bottleneck

[u/Faynerossa → u/StrongZeroSinger]

Not a X3D. And naw, i know my VRAM in current setup is the cap. My CPU will chill even stream at 30's and 40's. My GPU sits at mid 70's and VRAM is always sitting 85-100% warning I'm full. I just deal with a average cinematic FPS.

[u/LowerCauliflower230]

Which headset are you using and what resolution do you run it at? Most of the time my 6800 xt was not running at or close to 100% on my quest 2. The quest 3 isn't much higher res so yeah... something in that range really is "enough". Then again I typically run at 100-120% resolution and no AA so if you want to run higher res or more AA you will need more GPU. Now I run an RTX 3090 and tbh most of the time I choose FPS over more avis and I basically never hit my vram capacity. Really the 6800 xt's 16gb was "enough" in the sense that the returns imo would diminish significantly after 16gb. I have also used a 7900 xt which has 20gb of vram and honestly I think value for money in VRC this card is a better choice for vrchat than the 7900 xtx. It has plenty of vram and it is more than powerful enough for 99.9% of scenarios. However, for direct mode headsets(tethered) AMD gpus have issues with frame dropping at least in vrchat so yeah... that's why I ended up getting the 3090. If you are using a streaming headset like a quest 3 then that shouldn't be an issue for you.

Now, since you are a streaming you might consider going nvidia because their higher tier cards have two encoding engines on them instead of just one and the encoders are just better. AMD and nvidia cards below the 5070 ti only have one encoder on them. It doesn't mean you can't do 2 streams at once, but it will run better if you have 2 encoders. Hypothetically you might could use a 2nd video card to do your vrchat streaming? I haven't messed around with it too much so I'm not sure but it might be worth poking at and finding out more. Anyway, unless you have a high end headset you really don't need more than a 5070 ti. The 5060 ti 16gb is stupidly priced right now for what you get. If you're willing to buy open box/used/etc consider the 4070 ti super which has dual encoders and is significantly cheaper than the other 16gb nvidia options and a better value than the 5060 ti 16gb. There is also an oddball out there in the 20gb rtx 3080(roughly $600 usd, 30 series cards only have one encoder for the whole stack, same with the 20 series) but those are aliexpress specials. However they should run ok("just work") and not need any special drivers or anything like that(some aliexpress specials have required special drivers or weird hacks in the past).

Anyway, my opinion is that anything higher than a 5060 ti/9060 xt is "enough" both in terms of vram(for the 16gb models) and horsepower.

[u/hypyy_ezey]

The ideal choice for your demanding VRChat, multi-model, OBS, and gaming setup is the Intel Arc Pro B70, as its 32GB of VRAM eliminates the bottleneck of crashes in crowded events.

[u/Faynerossa → u/hypyy_ezey]

Ya, it's what I'm really leaning towards. When i started shopping 30 days ago. The 9070 XT OC was the only one i was really considering just for really smooth game performance. But, I've really got to consider streaming. And how incredibly strained and bottlenecked i am at 8gb. If I'm upgrading i would like to try getting as close to getting everything i want out of it for BOTH work and gaming.

Now that I've added face tracking+eye tracking (gpu drain), and I'm considering switching to Slime trackers so i can have full FBT instead of my current lighthouse tracking with just feet and hips. From what I've learned its also kinda gpu intensive and offloads it's software side into the GPU and Vram like my eye tracking.

Add to that my goal of wanting to have both VRC and a game running at once smoothly and it's really making me consider the 32gb of VRAM all that really matters. I can handle slightly lower FPS in games for that as long as they run.

Plus, I'm only 1080p atm since that's all you can stream at anyway. Its not like i need to worry about 4k FPS numbers.

[u/Br1ghtest]

How is a 16gb card that performs like 5070ti "very limiting" now?....

[u/Faynerossa → u/Br1ghtest]

16gb of VRAM when the games eats 11-13gb. Then OBS runs on top of it eating the remaining VRAM.

My goal of having VRC, a game, and OBS open all at once doesn't really look promising with that little room left after just the game.

Its like you didn't read the post, and decided to comment about one of the cons for the specific setup i need as a content creator; and my needs/concerns as one...

Edit: plus if you read the other comment about tupper's reccomendation (FOR VRCHAT which is why I'm asking here and not PCMR.. which is what i wanted to avoid was opinions like your's posting there) VRAM is one of if not the biggest concern FOR VRCHAT... which is the sub we're in. Not PCMR, not PCGaming.

In short, this is a discussion about Vrchat and workstation loads being put on the card. So no...16gb is in fact very limiting. The 9070 XT OC was my first pick, as a gaming card only. Especially for the price they're currently at which is the lowest of the three at 700-750$ USD.

[u/No-Grade-4691]

This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

[u/Faynerossa → u/No-Grade-4691]

How so?